Firefighters conduct a training exercise at the Del Valle facility. File photo: KHTS.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a contract Tuesday for Langan Engineering and Environmental Services to provide environmental services related to future improvements at the Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center in the Castaic area.

The Del Valle Training Center, where 50 Los Angeles County firefighters gathered for live burn training on Thursday, plans to update its facility with a new burn tower, classrooms and administrative buildings.

“The benefit (of the construction) will be that we have a state of the art burn facility that will allow us to simulate, in a safe environment, what firefighters actually experience in a non-safe or chaotic environment,” Del Valle Fire Captain Mitch Diehl. “It basically brings a little order to a traditionally chaotic occupation.”

Del Valle recently gained access to parcels of their 160 acre property, that had previously been leased by Vintage Oil.There are 21 oil wells on the site, in various states of upkeep.

Langhan, was granted a three-year, $2.5 million contract with two one-year renewals. They will conduct investigations of the land in question, including soil testing and groundwater testing, using all the data collected to create an environmental management plan for Del Valle.

They will also report back to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control and secure permits to ensure California Environmental Quality Act compliance.

“The environmental management plan will identify areas of concern, and provide a framework for addressing the environmental work required as the Fire District proceeds with the development of the Del Valle site,” according to board documents.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors typically holds their meetings weekly on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m.

The public meetings can be livestreamed here. All board agendas and supporting documents are available here.

For more information about the Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center, click here.

The Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center was built to give firefighters a taste of scenarios they might encounter everyday on the job, including chemical fires, vehicle fires and brush fires.

The hands-on training is coupled with classroom instruction, including debriefs after unsuccessful training sessions.

“Funded through Homeland Security grants, these realistic training scenarios will provide LACoFD and other local emergency responders a never before kind of true to life learning opportunity that will improve emergency response and mutual management of incidents,” according to the LACoFD website.

The training settings were created by special effects experts in the film industry, according to the site, and several production companies have expressed interest in filming on the property.